Are Students Informed on Local Elections?

Minnie Bardenhagen

Staff Writer

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The Nov. 5 election was extremely high profile, both federally and statewide. Not only did it decide the president, who Michigan would send to the senate, and the Michigan members of the house of representatives, but it also decided many state government positions.

 

However, what’s not talked about as much are the decisions made at the local level for Grand Traverse County and its surrounding counties. The ballot included many local decisions that would impact the lives of students, one of these being the NMC Board of Trustees.

 

The NMC Board of Trustees has huge implications for student life. They set the college’s goals, are in charge of decision making, and in many ways run the institution. They are essentially the governing body of the college. The board approves yearly budgets, plans for maintenance and renovation, and they also make annual evaluations of NMC’s president. 

 

That being said, when students arrived at the polls Nov. 5, did they understand what the job the potential board members on the ballot were running for? In a randomized sample survey of 20 students, I asked them whether or not they understood the role of the NMC Board of Trustees. 80%, or 16 of them, said that they don’t understand at all. 15% said they understand, and 5% said they somewhat do.

 

Despite most of the students not understanding the role of the board, 50% of the participants said they didn’t skip that part of the ballot, 45% skipped the board elections entirely, and one student chose not to vote in general.

 

Three spots on the board were up for grabs this election. Mark Keely and incumbent Kennard Weaver won the two full-term seats, and Pamela Horne won the partial-term seat. 

 

Several other local elections were on the ballot in Traverse City, such as county commissioners, sheriff, county clerk, county treasurer, and drain commissioner. When students were asked if they had knowledge on local elections in general, 30% said yes, 30% said somewhat, and 40% said no.

 

Camryn Jenkins, a psychology student who participated in the survey, explained why this might be.

 

“Local elections take a lot more effort to educate yourself on. They are not given as much media coverage compared to presidential elections,” Jenkins expressed, “It is important for college students to pay attention to local elections because it directly affects their day to day life, especially if they are living on campus away from home.”

 

On the topic of county commissioners specifically, students in the survey were more informed then on the board of trustees, but still not a majority. 30% said they understand the role of a county commissioner, 25% said they somewhat understand, and 45% said they do not understand.

 

Prior to the election I spoke to Tim Dowd, the democratic candidate for county commissioner in Leelanau County’s 7th district, who gave his perspective on the role of county commissioner.

 

“Well, basically, what happens is the taxes come from the property in the county, and then the commissioners choose what that money is spent on,” he explained, “We could do really good things with that money if it’s spent wisely. So it’s important that you elect the right people for the jobs.”

 

In addition, Dowd explained the important role that local press plays in educating the public on smaller, local elections.

 

“It’s overwhelming. There’s a lot of people running for different offices,” he said, “And that’s why the press is so important … The press reports on the different candidates, interviews us, and gets our point of view, and I think people need to do research.”